he got the high sign so he jumped a bus
and along the roads that wind on through
the hot mojave and the jericho / he`d start his whole life anew
and what he`d left behind he hadn`t valued
half as much as some things he never knew
he got dropped off on a street in town
where a grey old man looked him up and down and said,
`son this ain`t no western movie matinee
and you`re a long way off from yippee yi yay
`cause i can tell at a glance you`re not from `round these parts.
got a green look about ya, and that`s a gringo for starts
sometimes the only things a western savage understands
are whiskey and rifles and an unarmed man like you.`
and then the old-timer pulled him close and said,
`you`ve come a long way, i know, you got a longer drive ahead
through the bones of a buffalo, through the claims of the western dead
and just like the spokes of a wheel you`ll spin `round with the rest,
you`ll hear the drums and the brush of steel,
you`ll hear the call of the west.` / call of the west
you`ll hear the call of the west / call of the west
(the conflict:) harshly awakened by the sound of six rounds of light
caliber rifle fire followed minutes later by the booming of nine rounds
from a heavier rifle, but you can`t close off the wilderness. he heard
the snick of a rifle bolt and found himself staring down the muzzle of a
weapon held by a drunken liquor store owner. `there`s a conflict,` he
said. `there`s a conflict between land and people...the people have to
go. they`ve come all the way out here to make mining claims, to do
automobile body work, to gamble, to take pictures, to not have to do
laundry, to own a mini-bike, to have their own cb radios and air
conditioning, good plumbing for sure, and to sell time/life books and to
work in a deli, to have some chili every morning and maybe...maybe to own
their own gas stations again and to take drugs and have some crazy sex,
but above all, above all to have a fair shake, to get a piece of the rock
and a slice of the pie and to spit out the window of your car and not
have the wind blow it back in your face.`
now from the high timber lines to the deserts dry
who`ll risk dangling on some hangman`s tree?
to stake their claims on these prairie plains
while they say this lunch is not had for free?
just like the spokes of a wheel who`ll spin `round with the rest?
they`ll hear the drums and the brush of steel
and i`ll hear the call of the west / call of the west
i`ll hear the call of the west / call of the west
(`i used to be somebody! i used to be somebody, do you hear me? do you
hear me? i...i`ve been there! i used to be somebody, goddamn you! i`ve
been there before! don`t walk away!`)
END OF FILE
--
Dave Watson, Severed Heads Liberation Front (Re-release the _Stretcher_ EP!)
Frezier Balzoff (Ottawa), Ontario, Canada Email--aj153@Freenet.carleton.ca
`A man is measured by the depth of his anger.`--Eddie
`So he sanded off his winkle with his Black & Decker drill.`--Ian Dury Send " Call Of The West" Ringtone to your Cell